Water and Sanitation Master Plan; DWS Covid19 intervention report; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

NOTE: PMG was not present at the meeting. The below is compiled based on the Committee’s official minutes.

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson opened the meeting and welcomed everyone in attendance.  The Chairperson requested everyone in the meeting to observe a moment of silence for prayer and/or meditation.  She specifically welcomed Members of Parliament from the constituency period and stated that even in level two of the lockdown, committees were still meeting virtually until further advised by Parliament.  The meeting of today was to receive the following briefings from the Department of Water and Sanitation and Rand Water:

• An overview of the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan.
• Progress report on interventions by the Department of Water and Sanitation and Rand Water to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Ms L Sisulu, tendered an apology for not being able to be part of the meeting due to connections challenges.  Tendered apologies were accepted.

Briefing by the Department of Water and Sanitation

Overview of the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan

Mr David Mahlobo, Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, led the departmental delegation.  Mr L Mabuda presented on behalf of the Department. He informed the Committee that the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan seeks to:

• Rally all stakeholders in South Africa to work together to address the challenges confronting the Water and Sanitation Sector.
• Enable the achievement of the target set out in the National Development Plan Vision for 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal
• Call for the development of an implementation plan to address key priority areas and create economic and transformation opportunities toward water security and dignified sanitation for South Africa.

The Plan is configured based on twelve milestone elements, which define the key programmes identified as necessary to operationalise the new water and sanitation sector paradigm.  Six of these elements fall under the heading of water and sanitation management, and the other six under the heading of enabling environment.  The Master Plan consists of three volumes, comprising the following:

• Volume 1: Call to Action briefly outlines the milestone challenges and the recommended actions.
• Volume 2: Plan to Action provides a detailed account and analysis of the rationale for challenges and actions, and addresses future inter-governmental collaboration, M&E protocols and continuous stakeholder engagement during implementation.
• Volume 3: Schedule of Actions provides a detailed consolidated and prioritised implementation plan with costs covering all the actions required across the sector to achieve the objectives of the plan.

Discussion 

The Committee was not satisfied with the manner the presentation was done and requested substantive details on each of the components of the Master Plan. Questions on the presentation ranged from:

• The costing of the implementation of the Plan.
• The criteria used to determine the completion date and timeframes attached to action plans.
• The role of the National Planning Commission within the Department of Performance, Monitoring, and Evaluation and other stakeholders in operationalizing and implementing the Plan.
• Capacity and capabilities within the Department to successfully implement the Plan, given that the institutional and financial realignment of the Department, has, over the years, struggled with turnaround strategies.
• The impact of decreased GDP on the ability of the Department to secure financial resources to fully implement the Plan.

The Committee unanimously agreed that a workshop should be arranged for Members to receive detailed information on the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan. 

Report on the Covid19 intervention by the Department of Water and Sanitation

Mr L Manus presented on behalf of the Department and the content of the presentation was as follows:

• The legislative context; emergency procurement strategy, timelines and challenges; list of suppliers awarded and assurance measures.

Mr F Moatshe, Acting Chief Financial Officer, the presentation was outlined as follows: purpose; introductory remarks; DWS response to COVID-19; progress to date; Statistics of COVID-19 positive cases; procurement for COVID-19 related PPE/ Materials/ Services; Procurement process followed; details of suppliers and prices for Covid-19 PPE/ Materials/ Services.

Discussion

Members raised concerns on the following:

• The availability of reports on findings by internal and external quality assurers on procuring PPE for national and regional departmental offices.
• The varying and inconsistent costs of PPE procured by regional offices in different provinces.
• The monitoring, effectiveness and assessment of the rollout of tank installations throughout the country.
• No water supply by tankers in some areas.

Resolutions

The Committee resolved that the Department of Water and Sanitation should:

• Arrange a workshop to thoroughly discuss the details of the National Water and Sanitation Plan.
• Provide the Committee with a detailed breakdown of service providers and associated costs for procurement of PPEs for national and regional departmental offices.

The Chairperson thanked the presenters for their valuable inputs and adjourned the meeting at 13h15.